Transcripts For DW DocFilm 20240714

Where britain full of these a parents Worst Nightmare that they live all over the course 7 of them to sticks oakland chicago it happens every day not. All but sometimes. The float like the river him on of the deadliest cities in the u. S. Most victims are children that. Can flow here dont want to help the city to the other. This man builds crosses for each use lost to the epidemic of Gang Violence here its almost can do to just stay alive for you know 5 crosses that we have to that its not make it so 7 people weve lost a 5 to a city of chicago. Clifton boone image founder was a loving grandfather back in the day he used to be a leading gang member he spent 27 years in jail for crimes ranging from assault to 1st degree murder after half a life behind bars others had filled his place and taken over the block. Once part of the problem moonie now spends his days as a gang intervention coordinator his porch is practically his Office Without him it would be too dangerous for us to film here who is no authority here whose word carries weight it takes a courageous person. To stuff they speak to the kids they see a group he is in the street they study now going through all misspeak into a deal walk a mile. And that makes us a difference in me and i have this person because i go to class. Trying to make an honest living here it often takes holding down several underpaid jobs of once this man has been cleaning cars for 30 years 10 dollars each. But if youre looking for fast cash you sell drugs for the street gangs. Thats a hard job for me to convince them to stop selling drugs and to go get a legitimate job the only thing i can tell them that i doubt is a lot of tar i did try to get them to see the low carb it did not think it is defective because guested type cant be that. A short life in the fast lane for most here thats all theyve ever known. Most of their fathers were absent in jail during their childhood their moms barely able to make ends meet growing up here often means falling for the wrong parents. It takes says several days on the streets before we meet gang members willing to talk to us. If you want to be a part is like you seen what we were going to. Do when i was that it is your choice you will be a part of so you see the reason that we protect you every risk that we take it is to wait. But did you get the choice. If you mess around out. The reds im choosing to take the risk because i like face my. Car drives out they negotiate a price and hand over the drugs thats how it is here hustling instead of home or. What might look like just a couple of friends hanging out can quickly take a turn for the worse almost everyone here is armed. Jonathan started selling drugs at the age of 13 has to to tell the stories of friends he lost by l. N. G. Who was killed in front of his school when he was just 16 like real times a chicago it was they paid a sense it just doesnt. Hurt i know my brother im a big brother no go get that for me. This has been a lot its been a lot of reviews going no one no the best the best revis ive ever put to it. Me that the whole world will bless you know this is. A 57 bunia game watches over his streets but this time its different hes no angel but life has made him wiser he still does manage to get through to everyone that i couldnt even imagine life without gang bang bang a cool is the life that he would chose at the end of the because we had no choice you know choice and i feel with the love no matter who it is a what is from anybody who had a choice in his life we got pushed to the point well we had no choice and we had to get out to do. And for many that means hanging around all day. Young people here have lost their faith in life having anything better to offer than the streets. In the gangs they trying to be the family they never had for each other. Up to this that would be like it was home that this is love to do this to elevate the house for this to music only not going to let me its not like so what we gain by with it we really have family over him like we all come for you to the other guy we know that we know that we all do for monday believe is that theres some stuff they gave a we we did is we did not they didnt are never no you see hope theyre ok. Hes the one who builds the cross and for chicagos lost children greg zane is a retired carpenter each life taken he sets up another cross together they form a growing memorial on the west side greg himself suffered the tragic loss of 2 family members he knows what its like to have a loved one stolen from him. Who was returned to. Her grandmother making the crosses is also a way for greg to be able to work for his own trauma. My nickname child i. Heard this hard in my shop i cry a lot marsha. Is this. Ive i feel like im bad all these people because ive had that loss. And. It all seems like nobody wants to talk about it to them i do. Nobody wants to have a loss oh i know that mother that loved their game like their face on or. She loved him to a certain point something where. Once hes finished making a cross greg leaves it behind for the family of the deceased to take with them like tyrone blake sr. Even as a Police Officer he was unable to stop his own son from being drawn into the maelstrom of gang life and getting killed. They have no more or they have no you know. This is just hard to talk about is this. You know we feel my life you. Know structure. They have no leadership so. Tyrone blake jr did not live to see his 26th birthday. I. Call appoints office fully rigged with 110 i am radio scanners and monitors this is where he tracks Police Dispatches night by night listening in on police radio is not only legal in the us for the point its a crucial part of his work hes a freelance photojournalist who specialized in Police Operations the material he gathers he sells to local television stations for their crime related news. He has a range of contacts across the city he can send out collect footage and he also hits the road himself every night. It really gave us here in chicago just like it can be anywhere where people are shooting at each other you know i were a bulletproof vest for added protection. Some nights seems a little more dangerous than others some nights i dont wear it but it certainly helps make me feel a little bit safer when were out there and the violence has ticked up in chicago so. Classy Downtown Chicago with its imposing skyline is worlds removed from the chicago love point works and he covers stories from the tougher side of town one that is rarely caught on camera hes been on the job for 20 years now and seldom sleeps more than 5 hours a day if that. Is soon as possible. Because of a cup of coffee sounds good. Local t. V. Stations pay between 150. 00 and 300. 00 for the footage he delivers although there are plenty of cases to cover poorly as hes known by police and gang members alike has to work hard for his money hes the citys Number One Police reporter and after all these years hes still passionate about his job. Here. Is that going to live a good job. If you have fear you cant you cant properly cover the city of chicago i dont know if you have fear its like if you were a war correspondent if you were assigned to afghanistan or iraq this is the similar assignment at the end of the day every day someone is being shot in my life. So it isnt that much different than being a combat journalist that many times tonight is a quiet day and we already have several people shot a quiet night in most cities around the world theres nobody shot but in chicago a quiet night is a couple of people shot. In his car look mind has 7 scanners tuned in to all the different Emergency Services Radio Systems covering Emergency Services. 47 hes divorced with 2 grown up children of his own his son also works for him and like him is on the road night after night. Hallies 1st stop of the evening a woman on a man was shot and injured his movements are routine he wastes no time setting up his camera. The police have already roped off the area but even though theyve known pully for ages they make sure to keep him at a distance. Make sure i look good one officer calls out to him. Once the police have wrapped up fully packed away his camera and continues on his journey the next crime scene is already waiting. For. Sure. As it gets warmer busy. Bullets fly more violence as more the aggravation level is increased as you increase the temperatures people just get crazier and crazier. When the hottest summer days when you get the most shootings just people are just. That the numbers of chicago have been really bad at that time that weve had weekends where we had 50 people shot a dozen killed and that happens more frequently than people might think and its unfortunate for pauli the night is far from over. A new day jones in chicagos west and south sides and reveals just how rundown these neighborhoods really are. People who grew up here a crammed into underfunded schools and have few opportunities for Career Development any welfare and Education Programs are quickly discontinued if they fail to deliver the expected results fast. Crumbling buildings toxic landscape its the exact opposite of the american dream. Unemployment is rife the middle class moved out years ago poverty here is selfperpetuating. St welcome to news one of the few people local youngsters respect hes disappointed with the meager funding being provided to tackle the overwhelming problems facing the community. Its worse it is serious. And afghanistan every day its shootings and killings in his community and its not an outside force. Because this weapon truly a source. M. R. Community you can go get a god quicker than you can bat while the juice. Chicago proud to be home to barack obama the countrys 1st africanamerican president. Tourists flock to its magnificent glittering downtown area most children from the west side have never even had a glimpse of this picture perfect part of the city the gulf between black and white rich and poor is deeper here than in most other places in america one more reason why chicago is plagued by so much violence. Back on the west side boonie doesnt take his eyes off his granddaughter. He couldnt see his own kids grow up he was in jail. On. The Street Corner where bernie buys treats for a little rain is known as the most dangerous in the area and when temperatures rise so does the violence and with it the death toll on just 2 days in july 2800 over 100 people were shot 15 fatally many victims were innocent bystanders who had nothing to do with the gangs but what i bought my mother got i got my job i was. An old acquaintance from the neighborhood here every. One where do you care who knows who the gotta go bar he seems intimidating at 1st but soon its clear he has Mental Health problems and needs help over the roof nows a good to go some good see good i have a video he. Is going to shoot. Luckily its just a colorful water pistol but. No not. Here man. Otherwise the guns people carry here a real loaded and lethal. But this is this is its you and i could know the man hes. Mentally ill and he did drugs dont last is mad so he met leo and he out in the street just that other normally a person he approached like that when he got physical the them up or how the daily violence is the sad norm here 3 blocks down theres been a real shooting only the shell casings remain strewn across the street as silent witnesses the victims 3 teenagers the shots were fired from a moving car in the afternoon just as school ended and the students were going hard at one of theirs on my house and i heard all kinds of somalia my kids were trapped. It was very scary he says his the way she was a boy and a girl sat in. Labor says day kids got to stay in the house they can come outside and play as their benches the way she was in a neighborhood i have no money now i would like to go somewhere where i have no money and. Some residents are paralyzed by fear for their childrens lives others have become numb to it whoever lives here has learned to survive. You stay aware but you dont feel scared or you would never come out the house. Watching so while. This is the best we can do is watch it so wow moments i mean my models always feel around positive people. From negative people who have nothing going on in my life have nothing to live for. Just keep it moving i really dont try to associate with a lot of people have asked the same streets where. The target of the of the stick is so thats what it was. Just going well this is the work of the good hells thats what it. Is small memorials for the dead a constant reminder of the ever present danger in chicago theres a shooting every 4 hours every 19 hours a fatal while there are more guns and fewer Police Officers here than in most other u. S. Cities and the police have a long standing reputation for racism its an explosive mix of factors here that happen ok ive had a guy. I do have. A child and thats a quick prayer before setting to work the police have asked boone and other social workers for their help the police still have boonie registered as a gang member and often treat him unfairly he says but here they work hand in hand the vile. And says too severe for anyone sign to solve on its own. Like they did on her right here is exactly why i think. I want to get you making up these days about the great work you know all right even though the People Living in a trust the social workers more than they do the least. We could go to me about this got shot one supplied with 30 year old in a 68 you. Know that we are you know what they are. Convinced other younger people to put their god. When young kids and teenagers die in the neighborhood people are more open to the message to me and his colleagues friends. They work for a Youth Development Organization Called bill which has been working to help at risk youngsters in chicago since 969. Is part of a small team of experience thanks gang members street veterans he and his colleague carlos were both gang leaders in the past. But. In those days they could never have imagined working together with each other on the other side. Not how could he not im entirely with your friend to make their final big different negative and positive affirmations out you know. When we knew we wouldnt we when it came together in our lives that actually we would been a part of the problem and you know when i was there with the kids as hes already station you know they have about the and they know that were saw the individual family are down there and they look up to as we try to change their lives and give them jobs something yeah. Ive got a. If you cant tell me i am not. Well i mean you know work it all hes got right but at the end of the day if a team meeting at the offices of build mooney and his colleagues Exchange Ideas on how to get through to those they worry about most every day youre right. And carlos know all too well just how hard it can be to find a job after leaving jail. Let him go so ive got billed as workers from all walks of life from College Graduates turn social workers to people Whose University was the street. Mooney has his very own method he approaches everyone in the community including its youngest residents and talks to them. You have so well with mike. Who is out so he didnt see it right. He did. Its important that the kids trust him so that they can talk to him with everyone here knows bernie and he knows this is the only way to reach some of them especially those who arent ready yet for the other activities and programs build office. The Organization Also offers discussion groups for juveniles with criminal records theyre not his strictly voluntarily attendance is one of their parole conditions. Carlos leads the group today talking about their mothers this hour is not easy for firstly. Its hard so appreciate your mother. You know some find this interesting others shift on comfortably and that chance talking about their emotions is something theyve never really learnt to do we can we can help you guide you but you guys got to give us insight you know what is it that you need so that most carlos the former gang leader who spent 25 years in jail talks openly about his emotions and his mother she never failed to visit me she never feels the same becomes very much she never failed 70 pictures you know a family event she never will to you know us apart collect phone calls she was always there. My homie. 6 months into my bit yeah they looked out after. They was down my girlfriends they were gone. And thats the reality and thats why we do this you know to give out respect to our mums you know to show no we love them career because you could have disagreements and she can be strong but going to the big guys no mums out what we do people lisa is open and us gets the boys thinking she find a way to make stuff happen nice you know you know like she always put. In 1st so. That she is well protected. Because my mom was my mother before. She even though she had a full time raising me for both of us is to. Make sure you sort if you do go for a while right now she just got out of prison. More oh wow this you know for 234 years. Every time i did she was all drugged up you know saying she wasnt in the right my. Story is that they are reluctant to recall that many are reluctant to hear carlos does listen and offers the boys options but hes well aware that ultimately they will have to fend for themselves back on the street. The only protection greg zaniest needs is a helmet he saw as an hammers away so that others wont forget chicagos loss kids. Its a labor of love that requires him to work every single day. And weve got the worst kind of cancer any country going to ever have gotten gun violence and just get. It but waving nobody trusts. There is no cure for cancer. There is no cure here im going to be doing that you know and i cant keep up with it. Its about a nation thats walked away from god its about and im showing act of congress you know im going there not just with a cross and a heart im ive got to get a hug thats my paycheck. 22 years ago greg found his father in law shot dead in front of his. Since that day hes not only been a cop. But also a chronicler of those chicago has lost he researches their stories keeps lists and tries to push his own pain away just 2 months ago one of his daughters died suddenly of an overdose. Its difficult for him to talk about it. I guess a root think its a think at my daughter not me alert level at large for california so i think this country will quickly go into hell. In the 10 years the last 10 years of it especially the last 2 years. Greg hes inconsolable yet he tries to console others with his crosses. The boy with a gentle smile was tyree wives he lived to be 16. Even Young Children come full victim to chicagos violence there to protect them a crossing guards from the safe passage program. These women in bright yellow vests patrol the streets to try to keep kids safe not from cars but from bullets. Theyre armed with nothing but walkie talkie to call the police. Violence on the way to school has dropped by one 3rd since they started. Still whoever grows up here could always be at the wrong place at the wrong time and get killed. Police departments like this one in district 7 in englewood the places that most residents associate with problems problems with the police. Randall lacey wants to change that everyone here knows her as miss rang. Through. After her daughter was stabbed to death she was left to raise her grandkids on her own 2 years ago one of them was also. Killing. Miss ray wanted to do her part to combat violence on the streets so she founded the chess club. I think. I did my 1st shooting in the monsoon rains kids meet at the Police Station to play chess against members of the community and Police Officers were supposed to use force. Here white house on the out of every 10 we see a Police Officer we think about they this year because of the drag a bad break in a brother with britney all the way you know rested was just off the side you know the kind the side of the police. And the same thing go for the Police Officers who also want you to just sit down without you or do. You. Hear children do out with your. Parents or plus whoever is playing chess is not out on the street says miss wright she also thinks the playing chess teaches the kids to solve their problems with reason im not by pulling a gun and resorting to violence. Well my dad told me it says all right lets wait to move it like so like if there was like blackie we chose to go the other way it says well we did on this subject that is headed which tells you to go that way i doubt. That. The officers arent allowed to talk to journalists Chicagos Police have avoided any kind of coverage since the escalation in violence. In the rough and tough west side playing chess here is like an oasis of calm the kids say they feel safe even the youngest ones that sign its a different story. Time. For a think like it would. Be have. You. Here now live his life now he needs to. Not be sad and angry like that. In order to. A lot of mothers in the neighborhood of lost children miss ray tells us we can all sympathize with one another i know how it feels. Still shes determined not to let life get her down the funding for the sake of the children is. My daughter not who was killed it is not all of my grandson was murdered this is always going. To have to take. We have to forgive him so i can this day focus on my walls. Like i did right here. Its night time and boony as it hung his eyes arent really following the t. V. Done theyre glued to his farm hes always on call in case one of the kids wants to reach him sometimes in the middle of the night 27 years of jail couldnt break his spirit he married his wife patricia after he was released above the couch is a picture of his idols iraq and Michelle Obama Martin Luther King Bob Marley muhammad ali but africanamericans are far from being at the reins theyre still being systematically disadvantaged his work on the streets is also the fight for equal opportunities. The schools as afraid are you for. The polies this good or the you. That paris is scared of the you and you face good no bad. And this is the most courageous generation of young black and brown people that this world will ever see is right here so it might take in the evacuate direct courage to a real fight a fight thats going to help us as a people. Just think of that what could be accomplished. Bernie trying to keep his own son no lando out of the gang life but he was in jail when he finally got out orlando was already in and the age of 17 sentenced to 55 years for mada if theres one thing bernie regrets that its losing his son to the streets. He grew up in the camillas he did that was part of the destruction that my reputation so all he grew up all his life. To put straight. Thinking he was living up to my image so when he had a conflict instead it resolved. By that he resolved it in a way. And that was right and it cost 55 years of his life. In a strange is open for business 247 cars drive out the door opens drugs are exchanged and the contracts off again maybe is trying to help these kids because his own son is so out of reach. Orlando now a grown man is calling from prison who need hasnt seen him you know for 25 years as a former convict he isnt allowed to visit his son in prison but he has plans for orlando once he gets sacked. But i want you to get bad and youve got the bug that badly you got your problems you got the perfect storm just like me. But for now all he can do is watch from his front porch because the kids on the street make the same mistakes he did. Mistakes that rarely come with the 2nd child. Patrol cars emergency lines show the way for paul the point hes reached his 2nd crime scene of the night. A few hours ago 2 young men in their early twentys were shot. Out of a moving car on a street full of traffic. That could easily have been mauled victims says paul an. Innocent people who just happened to be passing by. There is no time of day in chicago when it doesnt happen like i said you know really theres a shooting every 4 hours in chicago so you know its rare i dont know that weve got a day without it shooting for 2 years now i think its been 2 years and got a day without a shooting or a 24 hour period without a shooting so you know again crime is down the homicides in shootings have have brought down about 25 percent but we still have 75 percent that is still happening so its going to take a little more work for us to get these little safer. Tonight his family quiet he says. 3 am fully has time to swing by his office here its safe to take off his bullet proof vest. In his very own headquarters pauli continues listening to the police radio and directing his staff hell remain alert and ready to return to the streets until morning. All he has lived with this inverted shadow for the past 20 years and he still gets upset by the events he covers. The 14 yours too. 13 year olds 12 year olds the reason why theyre brought into a gang life is because they cant get in trouble as an adult so theyre recruiting young kids into these gangs so they can commit the shootings and then they get out of the you know like a youth camp when theyre 18 years old so theyre not there at the spend the rest of their life in jail for killing someone so you find yourself we had one time we had a child who is 12 years old 12 and the gang was looking for him to kill him because he shot someone else it was one of the biggest stories we had in the beginning of my career was horrible to think that 1st of all that they recruited him use this child in the way they did and then they killed him which is why bully says he one quit not tonight not any time soon. The same goes for bumi hes attending yet another funeral but here too he finds time to speak to troubled youngsters time is in his efforts to get them back on track. He finds them and they find him for bumi his job and private life inseparable. The funeral parlor and grounds at least a gun free here the community can gather and moan in peace. But todays funeral is not for someone ripped far too soon from their beloved. The neighborhood has congregated today to say its final farewells to a man who lived to the ripe old age of 86 7. Not many has survived that long this is a community that has become tragically accustomed to burying their loved ones at an early age. Its awful when it really is it takes a lot. To see the agony suffer and the pain. In young people in the us thinking a lot of the young people that are dying are leaving children behind which makes the situation even worse so its challenging it really is. A challenging situation that when circumstances like these seems insurmountable in theory the people born into these conditions have the same and equal rights as anyone else in the country but they certainly do not have the same opportunity and with next to no mad side assistance or viable role models providing inspirational guidance the chances of breaking the vicious cycle of violence and poverty are sadly low. To some boonie is the turning point in their lives. Davy and his 18 and wants to be a nice to earn some extra money he works night shifts until 6 in the morning and then heads off to school. Money used to come easier when he was a drug runner on the corner. His mother couldnt support him and his siblings. He was just a teenager but he felt responsible to be the provider. Was the one who got him out of the gang. I was there. I looked in his as and i saw me at that days and days when i met him i was already in the streets and prison i had been in jail with joy that my life was spent in jail and i didnt want to have to go through what i went through actually like a father to me then i know it because i never had to a person but i always there was a relative there to me when i dont do this i dont do it but they would never show me at the. If a way how to do it they would not to do well how could i not do if you dont give me a different route to years of boony believing in him ok davey and the courage to turn his life around. Bernie doesnt give up on anyone easily he wants to be their emergency exit to get them off the wrong track and convince them there is a better life waiting for them. Thats hard to believe when all you know are the few blocks around you and affluent Downtown Chicago remains a shimmering skyline on the horizon i know now. That for today boonie is hosting a Family Reunion on his front porch a short reprieve in the rough neighborhood. Boonie is the patriarch of west gladys ave low key persistent. Right davey and made it to the other side mooney and patricia have practically taken him in with the ever be equal opportunities for the children surviving in the shadows of chicago downs his granddaughter will never get to see that day and yet he keeps on fighting every day for the kids here to come around hes always ready whenever they are. Really and you know its a lovely day well let you know when they when they get maybe 1 oclock in the morning you know come up with the bad boy could you take me in a morning to find me a job or could you take me in a morning put me on the program would you take me the morning families from school so a car there no prescribed time but not a so you just got to be to go with a car that my thinking is knowledge of god keep up with me and keep me healthy enough work and get up from point a to point b. I will be up for. As long as moony waits for them on his porch the dog. To a different life remains crack. For all of chicagos children who have lost their. Lot all. Lot. To. Enter the conflict zone with Jim Sebastian weeks of mass protest in hong kong showed no sign of coming through it is my guest this week is really tony a member of the hong kong governments top of the studio authorities now trip to the new extradition which provoked the crisis should be scrapped now and feel good food washes Debbie Anderson for the rest of conflict. Of the demon spawn d. W. War room. My 1st vice like i was a sewing machine. Where i come from women are balanced by this notion for once even something as simple as learning how to write them by psychos isnt. Since i was a little girl i wanted to have a bicycle off my home but it took me as theyve been right there. Finally the game bob invented by me and by snipers and returns because sewing machines sewing i suppose was more appropriate for girls than writing advice as now i want to reach out to those woman back home put downs by their duties and social goals and inform them of old dead babies and writes my name is the amount of the homes and i work at some of them. This is news coming to you live from berlin at least 26 people are dead after a stream a storm in Somalia Security forces say theyve killed all the militants after a 14 hour siege in the port city of to smile also coming up. People in new zealand start handing in their weapons a Government Buyback Program starts just months after more than 50 people were killed in a massacre at 2 mosques. And apollo 11